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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433680">Glass Of Dreams</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayfindering/pseuds/wayfindering'>wayfindering</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dialogue Light, Feels, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Kairi-centric (Kingdom Hearts), Multi, Other, Podfic Welcome, Post-Canon, Station Of Awakening, The Final World, kairi deserves so much, no explicit romance, shameless parallels, spoilers for remind</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:26:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayfindering/pseuds/wayfindering</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a year of languishing between sleep and dreams. Time is a sacrifice she'd more than willingly make to get Sora back, but it's starting to wear on her. When will she wake up? Will there ever be something more she can do?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi &amp; Riku &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi &amp; Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Glass Of Dreams</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>just something i couldn't get out of my head at 2am while thinking about kairi being asleep for a year and really wanting that to matter and her to keep mattering lmao. part of a bigger idea i have and who knows, i might dick around and actually edit this and write up some more plot, but for now here's the one-shot standalone scene that fixed itself in my mind.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the most curious thing, to wake within sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi wasn't sure why it happened--perhaps the border from unconsciousness to death was truly this easy to cross, or maybe since she'd been there before it was just her mind's way of keeping her sane and oriented in her indefinite slumber.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat up and stretched, though she wasn't sure if that was even necessary or just habit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had Sora visited this place, too, in </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> long year between sleep and memory? Did people visit here often? There was no Chirithy left here, in the sky of endless reflections, to answer her questions, or explain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or talk to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those floating stars Sora had told her about weren't anywhere to be found, either. And once the heartbreak, the fear, the adrenaline of planning and committing to finding Sora all wore off, once it was just Kairi and her reflection alone among the clouds, she finally had to admit that some company really would have been nice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ground was solid, but not like glass. Long bored of walking and running and trying to find any kind of edge, Kairi dragged her fingers along the oddly wet surface that she couldn't reach into and watched the ripples spread out from her path, distorting the clouds into fragments.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had been left out and left behind often enough to have plenty of strategies for combatting loneliness, even in a place with nothing to do or see--though, a pad of paper would not have gone amiss--but that didn't mean she </span>
  <em>
    <span>enjoyed</span>
  </em>
  <span> it. She never had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That thought sent her down another road of recollection and boredom spilled over into melancholy. For a moment, Kairi swore her reflection rippled and shifted into a younger version of herself, eyes wet with unshed tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, she didn't harbour any ill-will against Sora or Riku--not now; what was past was past and whether she should have had to or not, she'd fought for and won her place among their ranks. She'd forgiven them long before they asked but she'd gotten apologies anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sora, on the clock tower in Twilight Town, blue eyes scanning over the sunset-gold rooftops, hands fidgeting with a spent ice cream stick, hesitant voice picking out each word he hadn't thought to rehearse beforehand. Genuine and earnest as always.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was the day before he vanished, leaving her behind again in all his idiotic, endearing grand irony.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Riku, long before that; he never had underestimated her as outrageously as Sora, and was the first one to believe in her ability to fight. That didn't make him any better at talking, but somewhere out in the waking world, among her things, Kairi still had the heartfelt letter he'd slipped into the suitcase with the new outfit that he'd dropped off while she was training. Every time she read it she pictured his jade eyes brimming with determination, silvery hair falling over a face pinched in the effort of finding the words he'd thought about for so long and finally realised he could never say out loud. She understood that feeling all too well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riku was also the first to back her up when she proposed that Ienzo's team should study her heart. He'd looked...sad. But he hadn't argued that he knew best. He really was growing up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi sighed. She missed him. And Axel. And everyone else she'd only just started to befriend. They all got to work and fight together out there, while she talked to nothing but her own same face in a vast expanse of blue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> her choice, and she didn't regret it--anything to bring Sora back, anything at all--but she had a nagging guilt that he'd be horrified to find his sacrifice had only resulted in her spending more time alone, this time in a plane of nothingness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was still as pretty as the moment she'd first seen it with him, but its beauty grew frail with every passing day. Not that Kairi could measure days, necessarily, but she had the sense of time passing; she slipped in and out of strange dreams and the pure black of unconsciousness in between visits to this place almost in a rhythm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed like it had been a few months, at least. She hoped her senses were right, and she hadn't actually been asleep for ten years--or worse, that she was trapped here forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But no. She scowled at her own reflection between her legs as it looked up at her with worried eyes. The dramatic downward twist to her mouth cleared them away and made her laugh at its earnest absurdity. Good. Laughter was better. As long as she could still laugh, things would be alright.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thinking such negative thoughts like that didn't do anyone any good. Kairi trusted Ienzo the scientist, with his calm air of knowledge and his reassuring smile. She trusted Axel to never forget about her, wherever she was in Radiant Garden's lab now. She trusted Riku, too, these days--he was turning into a good leader, and if anything happened, he'd be sure to wake her up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most of all, she trusted herself. She hadn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>tried</span>
  </em>
  <span> to get out of this realm, because the whole point was to stay asleep and let her heart be searched for clues. But if too much time seemed to pass, or if anything felt like it had changed, she knew she could find her way out somehow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi and her keyblade and the power of Light. She could do anything, and she would.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Calmer, now, she hummed to herself and felt the tiny echoes of her tune reach out across the expanse and a small, indistinct noise came back to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi started. What? Surely she was hearing things. There was nothing else </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span> to make a sound back at her, and her own voice never found anything to bounce back from, no matter how loud. She glanced around, but no, it was still empty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hello?" she said aloud, voice feeling small against the sky. "Is someone here?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time the noise that came back sounded a bit like her name, if the person saying it was gargling water while saying it, and their face was also covered with a pillow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instincts warring, Kairi scrambled to her feet, boots planted solidly on the water, one hand outstretched as if to summon a keyblade, the other as if to reach out to the speaker.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who is it? Who's here?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Kairi!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Definitely her name, and another jumble of syllables she couldn't understand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn't coming from anywhere specific, either. It was all around her. Was she hearing sounds from the waking world? Is this what it sounded like from the inside? Were they trying to wake her up? Adrenaline suffused her. Was it time? The muffled tones sounded familiar. Not Sora, but...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Riku? Is that you? Should I wake up now?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...come to think of it, how </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> one wake up on purpose? She'd never had to try before. She assumed it would just happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi raised her keyblade arm, ready to manifest Destiny's Embrace. She'd never tried to make a portal before, but this definitely counted as "something changing" and, well, if it was all in her head then she could always be put back to sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she could summon her keyblade the air in front of her wavered and the sky went dark. The glassy ocean lit up from underneath, its reflection pulling back, spreading out from her boots as if afraid of her. A tide of fragmented mirages receding, leaving some kind of pink and red stained glass in its place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wha--?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her keyblade dropped into her hand just as a fist-sized light appeared against the starless haze and spiralled down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kairi!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riku's voice landed just as his boots did, and Kairi barely had time to register his grinning face before she was bundled into an awkward hug, face pressed into Riku's chest, keyblade jabbing them both in the side. She dismissed it and hugged him back for a long second, enjoying the feeling of her face buried something other than her own hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She'd learned not to take moments like this for granted. The softness, the warmth--how long had it been since she'd felt temperature on her skin?--the smells, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>smells</span>
  </em>
  <span> like sunrises and sea spray and something as dark as ink. If she waited until everything was okay to take it all in, she might never get the chance, not in this kind of life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But she couldn't savour it for long. She pulled back and gripped one of his hands where it stayed on her shoulder. His eyes were bright and he hadn't aged much. In spite of her self-pep-talk earlier, that observation sent relief pinging through her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Riku! Where are we?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"On the road to waking. Ienzo said you'd wake up sometime in the next couple days on your own once he released you from sleep, but I didn't want to wait. I, uh..." he seemed a bit sheepish. "I used the power of waking."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi laughed and couldn't hide her fond smile completely behind her hand. "Some things never change. You're as impatient as ever. But why the rush?" She sobered up in an instant as she asked the question. "How long was I asleep? Have you found something?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riku gave her shoulder a small shake, ignoring her question, but she barely noticed that. "Yeah! It's the dreams. Kairi, have you been having dreams, while you've been asleep?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course. But--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"A city, full of tall buildings?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His excitement was infectious, an exhilaration that bled out of his usual calm, and even though Kairi wasn't sure where it was going yet, she felt herself swept up. "Yes! I'm always up on top of one of them, looking down at the lights, looking for something--looking for Sora."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riku blinked at that, a little taken aback. "Huh. I'm always on the ground. But that proves it! I knew it would be you, too."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Me too, what?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can explain everything when we get back. The others are waiting for us!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At that, he turned and started to summon his keyblade but Kairi snagged his arm and pulled him back to face her, exasperation manifesting as sass as she planted her hands on her hips. "Just a moment! Explain </span>
  <em>
    <span>what,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Riku? Who's waiting? Don't keep me in the dark."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked chagrined momentarily before the excitement carried it away in its current. "Everyone! Fairy Godmother says that our dreams are a clue. I'm going to go find Sora. And this time," Riku looked her in the eye, voice clear on every syllable, "I'm not leaving you behind."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi's heart leapt into her throat and she found herself, for once, at a loss for words. Apologies aside, how long had she waited to hear that? She nodded once, determination colouring her features as much as emotion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I need your help, Kairi. Sora needs </span>
  <em>
    <span>both</span>
  </em>
  <span> of us." Riku's keyblade manifested and a beam of light shot out from the tip, coalescing into a doorway, but still he didn't look away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He reached his other hand out for her to take, expression softening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We'll bring him home together."</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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